Royal Death
by sctwilightvampwolfgal
Summary: Queen Arthur's world crumbles at the loss of his husband which marks the beginning of a series of mysterious murders of the kings of the four kingdoms sending Jacks, Queens, Heirs, and a King in to hiding while the search for the murderer begins. Cardverse AU.
1. Chapter 1

Waking up to find your beloved dead was worse than you could imagine; Alfred had a long, white pole jammed through his chest piercing the kind, heroic heart with in.

Arthur gulped; he couldn't rule their kingdom alone as they had always ruled it together. and Alfred had been his hero and his love.

Alfred was everyone's hero, and everybody loved him; it was impossible to hate someone so pure, so nice.

Arthur's heart was broke in a million places, and he just knew that it wouldn't recover as how could he love again when his soulmate's life had been taken away so soon?

He knew what he had to do, but he hated the thought of talking to those people that were still pretty much strangers to him after all these years; Alfred had always handled the meetings as he had known the kings of the kingdoms since he was a baby.

Arthur called the other kingdoms in for a meeting; a threat in one kingdom was a threat to them all if it managed to spread, so the kingdoms were rather close.

He had always been out of the loop as Alfred had always insisted that the Hero was the one to speak with them which left Arthur as the silent Queen of Spades.

Arthur was queen as he had married the only heir to the kingdom since the other heir had been killed by an attack on the castle years earlier when the princes had been infants.

Queens were required to show up at the meetings while the Jacks stayed home to rule the kingdom for however long the Queen and King were gone, but for this meeting one queen was left back at the castle as Francis had left his wife back at their castle; most assumed that he had done that, so that when he inviteably slept around, she wouldn't catch him.

King Francis Of The Diamond Kingdom had really left his queen behind, because she was pregnant; they did not want news of her pregnancy to be spread around as she was not pregnant with her husband's child.

"You should hide out in my kingdom until the murderor is found, Queen Arthur Jones." King Francis Bonnefoy suggested to the Queen Of The Spades Kingdom; the other kingdoms protected the other royals when one of the others needed that protection.

Arthur hate to be called Queen Arthur Jones as his name was Queen Arthur Kirkland-Jones after he had married King Alfred Jones of The Spades Kingdom.

"I don't trust you anywhere near me." Arthur growled out, nice and low.

"You need to hide before the murderor comes back to kill you." Queen Kiku Of The Hearts Kingdom timidly informed Queen Arthur.

Arthur frowned, but he didn't verbally respond to the other male queen.

* * *

That was how Arthur found himself being escorted in to the Diamond Castle by the King Of Diamonds, himself.

Arthur wasn't all that surprised by the extravagance of the castle, because he had been here numerous times before; all of those times he had been escorted by his king, Alfred, the love of his life.

Arthur refused to cry anywhere near Francis as the King Of Diamonds probably didn't even know what real love was.

He watched Francis move through the castle with the ease and grace of someone that had lived here his whole life.

"Vash, how is she?" Francis asked his Jack worriedly.

Arthur was startled by the genuine concern that graced the King's face as he had asked that question.

"Lilli's fine." Vash only looked slightly nervous at using his queen's name so informally once he spotted Arthur.

"I'm glad." Francis smiled, and knelt by the bed to kiss his wife on the forehead; there was a specific way that he had to treat her when surrounded by people that did not know how their relationship really was.

Francis cherished Lilli as a friend rather than a wife; he was kind to her, and did not mind the fact that she loved someone else as she had loved that person when she had married Francis, and he had known about it.

King Francis slept around, because his wife loved someone else waiting for the day that he would find true love, the kind that Lilli had already found.


	2. Chapter 2

Arthur was surprised as he realised that the Queen Of Diamonds was pregnant.

"You're about to have an heir?" Arthur asked like with his own kingdom the need to have a heir was especially strong when the king had no siblings.

Francis seemed startled by Arthur's question, and answered it with a simple, "Non."

"But your queen is pregnant, and unlike you she doesn't seem to sleep around." It came out harsher than Arthur meant it to as he had been horribly confused by Francis's answer.

"You mustn't tell anyone, but that is not my child that she is carrying." King Francis answered him.

"But how?" Arthur had never seen the sweet woman that Lilli was as the type to cheat on her husband.

"She loves someone else, and I have given them my blessing." Francis answered easily; it didn't hurt him that his queen loved another as it had never bothered him, in fact he was happy for her.

"Kings and Queens are supposed to love one another." Arthur declared; he had certainly loved Alfred, and Alfred had loved him.

"Royalty doesn't always work that way." Francis sighed; a part of him did wish that he married someone that he loved, but he had chosen Lilli out of all of the women that his mother had prepared for him for her sake; he had done so, so that she would be able to be with her love in the castle with out ignorant people keeping them a part.

Lilli had loved Vash for a long time despite the fact that they had grew up together like they were siblings when they were only step-siblings; their parents had married each other while Vash and Lilli were still young which led to most people assuming that they were indeed related as they had to be the only family that was this way.

Queen Arthur of The Spades Kingdom frowned at Francis's answer, and turned away to consider that; Alfred had always believed that Kings and Queens were supposed to love one another that was why he had married Arthur after discovering him on one of his many travels through his kingdom.

Arthur had not really believed that Alfred loved him at first, and he had doubted Alfred's reasoning on love between the royals after a while though Alfred had him convinced.

* * *

While the kingdoms were preparing a search party for the murderer and a secret funeral for King Alfred, the murderer hadn't simply stopped there.

He had managed to sneak in to the Clubs Kingdom's castle, and was preparing for another king's death.

His dark eyes that reeked of evil caught sight of the heirs of the Kingdom of Clubs, Natalya and Katyusha. Katyusha had backed away from power years before in fear that she couldn't handle the king's duties and had let Ivan become king; she had even helped pick him out a strong wife.

He moved towards the two; why settle for just the king when you could destroy the potential future kings as well?

Katyusha had moved in front of her younger sister, and cried out in pain as her body became a bloody, limp mess.

Before she died, she had called out one, last thing, "Run!"

Natalya ran towards her brother, but a swift knife pierced her flesh anyway; her arm fell to her side, limp and useless.

She changed direction towards the door, and prayed that Elizabeta would protect Ivan; Natalya had never been a slow runner, so she managed to leave the castle grounds quickly and easily.

The murderer ignored her in favor of the king.

King Ivan was startled by the sight of the mysterious person that he could only see the eyes of; they appeared red in the dead of night, but that may have just been caused by the emotions with in them.

Ivan moved to defend himself, but he was not fast enough as the knife dug in to his flesh hard and far enough to hit something vital and kill him.

Elizabeta moved to be a powerful queen and defend her kingdom even though she wasn't considered queen since her husband had died.

She managed to injure the man that then vanished with a chilling remark, "No royal is left to rule this kingdom."

That was when she broke down; Natalya and Katyusha were dead too?

Elizabeta would be killed for having not protected the kingdom as she was called to do, so she left hoping that the cabin that she had once called home was still inhabited by the man that she had once loved.


	3. Chapter 3

Natalya soon found herself lost in the woods, and her body failed her from the blood loss, disappearance of adrenaline, and lack of energy with in her body.

She was picked up by a blond haired man that brought her to a small, homely, and pink cabin that rested in the middle of the woods.

Another man was outside, and sweeping off the leaves from the path.

"Toris, I think I found one of the princesses of the Club Kingdom." Feliks, the blond man that had rescued Natalya, called out towards the brown haired man that had been sweeping the path off.

Toris rushed in to work as he caught sight of Natalya; she was as pale as death with the red of blood dripping down her arm to her side, and continuing to flow flow down even further.

The brunette had once been a famous doctor in the Kingdom Of The Clubs until he had ran away with Feliks when the blond had almost been killed by the guards of the palace that had decided that Feliks had been in the way when they were buying food from the marketplace that had probably been used for the King's food or just as snacks for the guard.

Toris had decided that it would be safer if he took his blond lover away from the kingdom, so they moved in to the woods that happened to be just outside of the kingdom; they built a cabin there, or Toris built it while Feliks looked on.

Either way, the Lithuanian man set to work on treating the last biological member of Clubs' royalty.

Natalya awoke many hours later to find herself laying in an unknown bed while her arm somehow seemed to hurt worse than before.

She could smell something cooking, and two male voices socialising somewhere with in the house that was more than likely the kitchen.

Natalya was startled by the sight of Toris entering the room with a tray of food in his hands that appeared to be for her.

"Oh, good. You're awake!" Feliks spoke as he had followed his brown haired lover in to the room.

"Who are you?" Natalya was still very confused at how she had gotten here, and who these men were.

"I'm Toris." Toris smiled at her, and set the tray on to her lap.

"I am Feliks." He grinned shyly yet somehow eccentrically at her.

"I am Princess Natalya." The woman on the bed murmured.

"We totally know that. See, I found you and told Tori who you are." Feliks added on as he had seemingly warmed up to her more than before.

Toris blushed at the feminine sounding nickname that Feliks had used for him in Natalya's presence.

"Tori?" Natalya asked curiously, and began to search for a woman.

"Feliks meant me." Toris mumbled in embarrassment; he didn't mind the nickname so much when they were alone, but it was painfully mortifying to be called by it in front of other people.

Natalya was surprised at that confession, and how girly Toris's nickname sounded.

She carefully picked up her silverware, and tried to eat; it proved to be difficult to manage with one arm.

The princess was frustrated that she couldn't feed herself at the moment, and Toris decided to take over that task by hand feeding her himself.

Natalya felt extremely embarrassed by the action, but she let him as she couldn't feed herself.

* * *

Elizabeta found the cabin that she was looking for easily enough; it appeared abandoned like it always had.

She snuck in through the back door like she use to have to; she saw two men in the kitchen.

One sat on the other's lap as they talked; thankfully the man that she had been looking for was the one that had the eerily familiar looking man on his lap.

"Gilbert." Eli called out as she entered the kitchen and sat down beside the two men.

"Lizzy, or should I now call you Queen Elizabeta?" Gilbert asked her with a smirk on his attractive yet pale face; a devil's tail twitched behind him leisurely.

"I am not a queen anymore. Someone killed my king, and the heirs to the throne." Elizabeta announced to her old lover.

"Ah. They got your kingdom too. I didn't think that he'd even let you live." Gilbert announced mysteriously as the Joker he was easily pulled any which way based off of how he felt at the time.

Elizabeta had been drawn in to the dangerousness and mystery of the Joker when she had first met him which had led to a romantic relationship at the time until she had been requested for and married Ivan; loyalty had been the only real bond that had connected her and Ivan other than the pride of being the queen that the citizens could look up to.

"Are you on their side then?" She wondered if Gilbert would even let her live.

"I don't pick sides, Lizzy. You know that. Whichever side I am on is the awesome side, and the right side." Gilbert smirked at her.

"So are you going to kill me then?" Elizabeta asked; her head was tilted up proudly to show that she had dignity even when faced with death.

"I could never do that. You know that I am loyal to my own, don't you?" Gilbert answered her.

Elizabeta smiled a tight lipped smile at that; she had stopped considering herself his long ago, and hadn't thought that the devilish Joker had still cared about her.


	4. Chapter 4

Elizabeta had been left alone with Gilbert's newest lover, Matthew, as the albino Joker had something important to do which probably dealt with the scumbags that had ruined her kingdom; she just knew that he was on their side, and that he would remain that way even after he had taken her in.

"So what's your name?" Elizabeta asked the quiet Canadian.

"Matthew Williams. Gilbert and the others helped me pick out a last name." His head ducked down; he appeared so much younger than Gilbert, but that didn't mean much as Gil always prefered to look younger than he actually was.

"Are the others the ones that destroyed my kingdom?" Elizabeta's voice dropped down several tones to a much eerier one as she was furious that someone could do this to the most powerful kingdom.

"Yes, but I can't give out their names." Mattie murmured.

"Fuck!" Elizabeta wanted to absolutely destroy them the way that they had killed Katyusha, Ivan, and Natalya.

Elizabeta watched the quiet man, and assumed that he felt like protecting the ones that had pretty much raised him.

Her eyes widened as she realised that he looked like the late king, Alfred.

"Are you by any chance kin of King Alfred's?" She asked.

"No. I never met him, and I don't know anything about my biological family. Sorry." Matthew answered her in his normal, quiet tone of voice.

"You look like him." She tried to think back to what she had heard about the Spades Kingdom from her younger years, but the only thing that she could recall was the fact that the castle had been broken in to when King Alfred was a baby; his twin brother had been killed back then.

* * *

His ruby red eyes watched the figures that appeared to be mere shadows in the room.

It was impossible for anyone to distuingish any physical characteristics of the group members that Gilbert had chosen to hang out with.

"How did everything go in the Kingdom Of Spades?" The wording sounded like what one would say to a friend or acquintance after they had traveled, but the tone of the voice, the person that had spoken it, and the setting of the conversation told a far eerier tale.

"It went well. The king died." This subordinate bowed his head as if embarrassed to say that he did not have the maliciousness to kill off the queen and the jack as he had obviously let them live.

Thankfully, their leader ignored that for now. "The Queen and one of the heirs of the Kingdom Of The Clubs managed to get away, and their Jack is being executed." A sinister kind of glee as the leader said the last bit about the Jack.

"Gilbert. If you find any of the missing royalty, kill them. We would hate for them to take back the throne." The cruel voice held a command that one would be stupid to ignore.

"Yes, sir." Sir was spoken in an insulting, sarcastic, and an almost teasing tone of voice, and Gilbert left with his red tail swingng behind him in it's usual way. 'What he doesn't know won't hurt him?' The Joker thought as he walked away.

* * *

Roderich stepped up on to the platform decinated for criminals that had betrayed the kingdom.

He was nervous, but he kept his composture as the crowded started chanting for his blood, for his death.

The guards forced him down on to the platform; his head was placed right underneath the guillotine blade which caused the crowd to cheer louder.

The blade fell down upon him with quick accurancy and the pain was only blinding for a second as that was how long his life lasted when the blade had cut his head clean off.

Roderich's head tumbled on the ground until the head guard picked it up, and announced that the traitor was killed for his actions against the King.

The crowd cheered even louder at the thought that justice had won yet again; the search for the new king of the Clubs Kingdom was put off until the bodies of the Queen and Princess Natalya were found.


	5. Chapter 5

The Jack Of The Hearts Kingdom watched as Queen Kiku placed his hand on his own stomach during the meeting, and King Ludwig was too busy double checking that everything was in order in case their kingdom was attacked by the mysterious murderer that had killed two kings already while collapsing those two kingdoms for the most part; Yao was leading the Spades Kingdom while his queen was away, and no one was leading the Kingdom Of The Clubs as they had recently decided to execute their Jack.

The news of Jack Roderich's death still struck fear in Feliciano's heart, so he had chosen to forget about it.

He instead focused on how painful it was to know that the Queen was pregnant with Ludwig's child, and Feliciano had never gotten pregnant.

Jack Feliciano would never be allowed to have Ludwig's child; cheating with your Jack was frowned upon more than cheating on a random civilian which made things far too difficult for The Kingdom Of The Hearts' Jack, Feliciano Vargas.

He watched Ludwig dismiss the meeting, and his concern over how Kiku was faring with his pregnancy.

Feliciano knew that Kiku's pregnancy was more important than any other Royal affair as Ludwig's brother had vanished years before, or if he had one as no one knew for sure whether the King had a sibling; Kiku and Ludwig's child would be their heir which meant that no matter what that the child had to be born and raised to one day be the King of The Hearts.

Ludwig moved quietly over to Feliciano's side; The Jack couldn't help it that his heart had given a hopeful tug with in his chest at the sight of Ludwig coming to his side and leaving Kiku's.

"You have to get Kiku out of here, and protect him before the murderer comes here. We are a weak and easy target as my only heir is still with in my queen's womb." Ludwig whispered in Feliciano's ear.

That hadn't been quite what the Italian had wanted to hear which was obvious by the way he sighed at that command.

"Yes, sir." Jack Feliciano resorted back to proper terms in order to address the King which caused said king to frown.

"I love you." The words were murmured as quietly as humanly possible that could still be heard.

"Te amo, my king." Feliciano's voice lowered in fear that someone would recognize that particular phrase.

Ludwig walked back towards his queen that he probably also loved as he had married him, and took care of him.

* * *

It was later that night that Feliciano heard the clatter of fighting with in the castle walls, and he knew that it was Ludwig against the murderer.

He ran over in a hurry to the Royal Chambers, and woke up the queen; he would not deny the king's last command towards him.

Feliciano wasn't much, but he was a loyal Jack.

The Jack barely managed to lift the queen in to his arms, and take off running; thankfully, adrenaline had kicked in.

He managed to carry the impregnated queen all the way in to the forest as he searched for an old, Spanish friend of his.

"Antonio, Antonio! Help!" It took what felt like too long for the Italian to encounter the Spaniard.

"Feliciano?" Antonio asked as he left the shack that he lived in; it was a small, wooden building that was falling apart with a single grave stone in what appeared to be the front yard.

"Kiku's pregnant!" The Jack barely managed to croak out in a surprisingly loud voice.

"I got home." The medicine man and doctor announced as he carried Kiku in to his old shack.

"Sorry that I haven't visited in a while, Fratello. Life just got busy back at the castle as the Queen's pregnant, and Ludwig still refuses to acknowledge the love he holds for me most of the time. Luddy won't live for much longer; we were attacked. A murderer is going to every kingdom, and killing the Kings of that kingdom." Feliciano admitted as he knelt in front of the grave stone that rested there.

"Feli, it's late. Come inside." Antonio's voice was sad as he looked at where The Jack knelt.

"Goodnight, Lovi. I was just catching my brother up on what has happened while I've been gone." Feliciano told his almost brother-in-law.

"I know. I miss him too." Antonio muttered as he thought back to the time that Feliciano's fiery brother had still been alive; he had made Antonio's life complete since the day that they met.


	6. Chapter 6

Arthur leaned over the toilet as he retched in to it; Francis knelt behind him like a nervous mother hen, though Francis' feelings seemed to extend past that which the Frenchman had made more than clear recently.

"When are we supposed to leave?" Arthur asked after he had washed his mouth off in the sink.

"As soon as your ready." Francis answered him; they had recently discovered that Arthur was pregnant after the morning sickness started, and Francis had begun to take care of Arthur.

"I'm ready." Arthur murmured; he found it unnerving that no one refered to him as a queen here.

Francis left Arthur's side briefly to gather Vash and Lilli.

They were fleeing in to hiding at a small cabin that Francis knew of that was nestled deep in the woods, and was well cared for by the Diamond Royalty despite the fact that the civilians had no idea that it existed which made it the perfect hiding spot for the four of them as well as the two babies that would more than likely be born there as Lilli was most the way through with her pregnancy.

Vash carried Lilli slowly and gently there as they did not want their hiding spot discovered or a bumpy carriage ride injuring Lilli or Arthur's babies that they carried inside their stomachs.

It was more of a concern for Lilli as she was farther along, but Francis still worried almost obsessively over Arthur.

* * *

Matthew was currently kissing some unfamiliar boy before he left for the Diamond Kingdom which sent an unpleasant feeling coursing through Elizabeta's body as she couldn't trust the person that Matthew was clinging to while Gilbert was gone for the moment.

"Bye, Matt." Mattie's voice was soft as he spoke that to the man with the almost exact name as the Canadian that looked like Alfred Of The Spades Kingdom.

"Goodbye Mattie." Matt's voice was rough and deep; he also appeared strong and masculine, the type of person that could easily win in a fight.

Eli watched the tougher looking Canadian walk away as he left to 'visit' the Diamond Kingdom.

"Does Gilbert know that you're seeing Matt?" Elizabeta called out after Matt had left.

"Not exactly, but I love them both." Sadness was present in the cute Canadian's eyes. and threatened to overflow from them in the form of tears.

"You'll have to choose one or the other." Elizabeta reminded Matthew; she hated the idea of him or Gilbert getting hurt by this facinating chain of events.

"I know." Matthew muttered.


	7. Chapter 7

When Matt arrived at the Diamond Kingdom, the castle appeared abandoned as if all of the royalty had vanished over night which meant that Matt was going to be in huge trouble for allowing this to happen even if he hadn't been the cause of this disappearance.

While Matt arrived here, someone else arrived back at the Spades Kingdom where the last remaining known royalty was at.

Those same haunting red eyes appeared hidden by the hood of a cloak and the darkness of the night.

The small figure of the person stepped forward and closer than ever to the unsuspecting Jack hidden behind the Spade Castle's walls.

The man entered the castle with out being stopped by anyone.

He had been encased by the protective castle walls years ago back when King Alfred had been a baby, and he hadn't been alone which was why the other heir had grown up unaware of his royal blood.

Back then, it hadn't been the time to ruin the other chances of royalty in the Spades Kingdom which was why the other heir had been allowed to live at that point in time.

He watched from the shadows as Jack Yao Wang worked on official looking papers.

"You don't have to do that anymore as your time is up." The red eyed man smirked.

"Who are you?" Yao's eyes darkened in distrust of the stranger.

"The new king of the kingdoms, and the merger of the past kingdoms. I'd tell you to bow to me, but you won't live to do so." His smirk widened as he pulled out a gold knife, and dragged it down the body of the Chinese Jack; blood seemed to eagerly follow the line, and drip past it; struggling was nonexistant at first out of pure surprise, but by the time that the surprise had worn off, the struggles were weak from blood loss.

The knife continued to merrily slice through soft, human flesh eventually finishing it's journey when the Jack had died and become unrecognizable.

He smiled with glee at the corpse before him, and bent down to scoop up the dead man's blood.

The red eyed man left shortly after with all of his victim's blood, and found his way back to the meeting spot that they had decided on ages ago.

* * *

Matt stood there waiting for their red eyed leader with the others including the Joker that was only partially on their side.

"Did you get them?" The leader asked Matt.

"They had fled before I arrived." Matt muttered awkwardly.

"Oh, do you remember the last time that someone failed to do what I asked?" The red eyed man asked him.

Matt gulped as words failed him at the moment; the last time that someone had failed to do what their leader asked the person, their leader's older brother, had been locked up, and had became Luciano's play toy, existing only to be tortured just for fun.

Luciano leaned closer to him, "So much for your little lover." The way that lover had been said implied that he didn't believe that love existed for anyone.

Matt hated the idea of himself being seperated from the man that he loved, but no one could deny Luciano of his orders or anything that he wanted.

Luciano led him away towards the chambers that he kept his victims; a blond man sat behind the locked jail door, blood covered, and obviously still in pain from whatever his younger brother had done to him.

"You're out, Flavio." Luciano said simply though Flavio didn't look convinced.

Luciano ended up dragging his brother out of the cell, and he shoved Matt in.

Matt closed his eyes when Luciano brought his prized, gold knife down repetitively on Matt's body scaring it; the leader was careful not to kill him while he inflicted as much pain as possible on the tough Canadian before he left to close up the meeting, and possibly get his older brother medical treatment.


	8. Chapter 8

Natalya's arm had started to heal with time, but she still struggled at times with doing the basic tasks around the house.

It was bizarre living with the two men that had taken her in as she was still adjusting to their relationship, and how they treated her.

Once Feliks had warmed up to her, he couldn't seem to get enough of her; Toris treated her kindly, and if she didn't know better, she would have assumed that they both liked her romantically.

She longed to be back at her kingdom as she could feel the surging power of kinghood roaring in her veins, but she knew that it was unsafe to do so now and she needed to recover properly before even attempting to seize control of her kingdom.

Natalya wandered back in to the pink cabin that she had been forced to call a home of sorts after she had finished sweeping the path to the house off.

They never let her do any chore that could tire her out quickly, or harm her arm more than it already was.

* * *

Kiku screamed as the contractions seemed to worsen while Antonio rushed about to help the man deliver his child.

Feliciano felt awkward and out of place as he watched the man that he considered a second brother work with Kiku during Kiku's labor; Feliciano had no idea how it happened, but he had grown found of his queen and had fallen for him.

The Jack felt before that he could only love one man, Ludwig, his precious king.

Somehow after the King's death, Feliciano had fallen in love with the Queen instead.

He really felt like he should do something more than watch, so he reached for one of Kiku's hands to let him squeeze it with the pain.

The Jack Of Hearts was fearful that his new love would die during labor as Antonio performed a C-Section on the small, male queen.

It was a relief that he didn't, and that a beautiful baby girl was born for The Hearts Kingdom.


	9. Chapter 9

Arthur winced as he watched Lilli have her son as the process seemed quite painful from where he stood.

He hated the thought of going through that one day soon, but he had to after all he was pregnant and his kingdom needed an heir.

Francis held Lilli's hand like a husband would hold his wife's hand when she was giving birth to their child.

Vash was the one delivering his son as they couldn't simply get in touch with a doctor while they hid.

He was not trained in medicine, and it would have to do right now.

If all went well, no one would die during this child's birth.

Thankfully, the labor went by with out a single death which shown that Arthur may survive his when Vash delivered his child though that would have to be by C-Section which in all honesty terrified Arthur.

* * *

Matt refused to show any sign of weakness as his boss drove his golden knife through the Canadian's flesh.

He hated the pain, the scars, and the bloodloss caused by such a weapon on his skin.

Matthew stifled his groans of pain as he sat there in the cold, dark cell that served as his home, and torture chamber.

* * *

"Why has Matt not visited?" Mattie asked nervously, terrified of the answer that he may recieve.

"Luciano's torturing him." Gilbert spoke seemingly with out a care in the world as if that was how it was and would always be.

Elizabeta wondered if he somehow knew of Mattie's relationship with Matt.

Matthew cried silent tears as pain seemed to clog up his body while he mourned as if his other lover had already died.


	10. Chapter 10

Natalya knew that since she was the rightful heir of the Club's Kingdom that she needed to fight for it somehow.

The soon to be female king found herself practicing her fighting technique as her arm healed.

She knew that the kingdom couldn't continue as it currently was as it would crumble and then fall apart or whoever had killed her brother and sister would gain control and change her kingdom from a place she loved in to one she hated.

The main issue with her plan was that she still needed time to build her strength up as well as recover from the attack; the other was who her queen would be.

She had never felt any huge desire for love after having felt her heart break when her brother married Elizabeta as she would serve as his queen.

Natalya knew the signs of love however from her first crush that was on her brother even if she felt that she was much stronger on her own.

She glanced toward the pink house that contained two, loving men that had cared for her for quite some time now.

Natalya knew that those two were together, but still she wondered what it would be like to immerse herself in to their relationship.

* * *

Feliciano knew that Queen Kiku would have to go back with his heir to the Kingdom of Hearts to rule the kingdom.

He also knew that he must go back to the castle where his first love as well as Kiku's first love had died.

The Italian male had no clue how he'd deal with that pain, but the kingdom mustn't be abandoned or bad things could happen to them as well as it.

Kiku had the heir in his arms, the future king.

She'd rule in his place when the time came, and Feliciano wondered if Kiku would choose a new king to replace Ludwig.

Kiku only held this power to choose to do so since he had given birth to the future king of the kingdom.

Feliciano wanted to be that king even if he didn't want the pain, and had no clue how the Jack taking over the deceased king's role would look to the world.

It was no surprise to anyone really that the Jack lived in the same castle as the King and Queen.

He could imagine the rumors, but still he found his heart claimed by Kiku's as he longed to rule beside the other.


	11. Chapter 11

Arthur hated how he savored the gentle way that Francis treated him at the moment as the Frenchman hurried to get Arthur safely on the bed for his labor; Francis fretted over him like he was his nervous husband and soon to be father.

Francis was already muttering reassurances in mostly French as he held Arthur's hand as Vash cut open Arthur's stomach to deliver the baby.

Arthur hated how painful this whole procedure was, and wasn't even sure if it would be successful despite how precious this baby's life would be the Spades' Kingdom.

Arthur winced as his son was born, and his stomach was stitched back up.

Francis immediately acted like some sort of doting father over the infant even if he wasn't and it shouldn't have warmed Arthur's heart to see that display of affection.

The French King was married and had no children of his own; Arthur and Francis couldn't ever be together anyway as they ruled two different kingdoms.

* * *

Elizabeta wondered what would happen to her kingdom which she no longer had the ability to defend as they would never take her back as their queen added to the fact that she had no clue who would rule or if the whole kingdom would perish under anarchy.

She found herself looking after a distraught Matthew Williams as he worried about his lover that was being tortured.

The ex-queen wondered what all of this would mean here; Matthew beared striking resemblances to the deceased King of Spades which could mean a lot of things as well as the fact that the Joker of the kingdoms seemed to be against them.

She also worried that all the kingdoms would fall under the murderers or murderer that was killing all of the kings.


	12. Chapter 12

"When will you like go back?" Feliks sounded nervous as he gazed at her.

"Not too soon, I hope. Your arm hasn't healed up." Toris muttered nervously as he glanced over at Natalya.

"Soon enough. Once my arm is healed as I have to be able to fight. I'll have to choose a queen at some point as well." Natalya sighed as she stared at the woods beyond the house.

"A queen?" Feliks asked in curiousity.

"Yeah, I'm the new king." Natalya stared glumly past them as to not bring it to her attention that a king had never chosen two queens and how ever would that work out?

"Good luck." Feliks muttered as he stared at her.

* * *

"We need to go back." Feliciano watched Kiku as he breastfed the baby girl that he had which always made Feliciano wonder about the ability of male queens to reproduce as it seemed like no other man ever gave birth or could breastfeed their children.

"We do." Kiku seemed saddened by that very fact.

"You need to choose a new king as well." Feliciano was only the Jack, so he could only do so much while Kiku would be missing the main leader of the kingdom.

"I know." Kiku's brown eyes faced the ground in sudden sadness, and Feliciano couldn't help but to lean over and kiss the pain away to the best of his ability.

"Suki desu." Kiku muttered far too faintly for Feliciano to hear.

"I'm sorry." Feliciano's face flushed in embarrassment, and he left the room as if to flee the awkward situation that he was now a part of.

Kiku felt tears rise up, but he fought them off, knowing that he was confused by his only feelings in regards to this whole situation as he still loved Ludwig yet he longed for Feliciano; how could that be when a person was said to have only one soulmate?


	13. Chapter 13

"Who do you think is ruling our kingdoms?" Arthur muttered as he looked down at his son as he addressed Francis.

"I don't know." Francis muttered in response.

"We have to take back control to our kingdoms." Arthur may have muttered, but his voice was steely in it's determination despite the volume and his eyes darkened in their green coloration in determination.

"Oui." Francis muttered yet again, "Soon."

The Frenchman reached out to hug the British Queen of another kingdom as if cherishing his last moments to do so.

"After Arthur heals," Vash told them quietly, "And his son will have to be hidden until we can stabilize all of the kingdoms and eliminate the threat imposed on every last one of royalty."

Francis nodded though he didn't let go of Arthur, and Arthur managed to ask them, "Who all is left of the other kingdoms?"

"Queen Elizabeta of the Clubs' Kingdom is missing as well as one of their heirs, Natalya. They could have died though their bodies weren't in the list of those found in the castle. Queen Kiku who was pregnant is missing as well as Jack Feliciano of The Hearts' Kingdom. No one knows if the heir was born successfully or not or if they're both dead." Vash sighed though he knew that no one knew whether they were alive or not as well.

"I hope they made it." Arthur muttered finally as he digested those pieces of information.

"Me too." The French King finally muttered in reply as well.

* * *

She whispered, "Can we do something for the kingdoms?"

Gilbert replied, "I'm not allowed to pick favorites."

"Since when did you follow the rules?" Elizabeta challenged him with a smirk.

"Never." Gilbert smirked back at her. "Why do people think that I will do so so often?"

"Who knows?" Matthew muttered.


	14. Chapter 14

Natalya stared ahead at her practice ground as she felt her arms move with ease as her knife became an extension of her being and slashed through the air under basic commands.

She paused; her breath billowing out from her with each heaving breath of her own.

Her mind flickered back as if under it's own accord towards the two men that were caring for her as she knew that she didn't want to leave them yet would have to soon enough.

Natalya startled slightly as she heard Feliks call her for dinner from beside her; it was odd how seemingly paranoid the two had gotten as she recovered with Feliks and Toris both seeming to fight for her attention yet not fully up the other while not wanting to up the other at this miniture competition of theirs where they wanted to 'fight' yet didn't.

"I'll have to go back and fight for my kingdom soon. Is it alright if one or both of you were to join me?" Natalya asked.

"We aren't much of fighters." Toris's eyes were cast downward, and Natalya could clearly see his sadness and frustration, worry, and fear building upward.

"That doesn't matter. I meant to ask if you wouldn't mind being my queens?" Her eyes were downfallen as well at the moment as she surrendered the personal request that contained the last of her dignity.

"I will." Feliks's statement lacked his normal language yet that seemed to spell it out more clearly as to what he meant and what he wanted or needed.

"Me too." Toris answered in a more supdued fashion and way as he spoke up towards the two now in his presence.

"Thank you." Natalya muttered towards them as that ended the perhaps too personal topic before them.

* * *

It seemed to take far too long for Feliciano and Kiku to be at this moment when they had barely spoken recently.

Antonio was holding the young king of the Hearts' Kingdom in all of her unabashed beauty while the Jack of the kingdom and the Queen were dressed in dark outfits to conceal their identity as they started towards their old castle and the life that it had told of the past.

Jack Feliciano knew that someone had to have cleaned the castle of dead bodies yet feared that he would see his dead love in the castle marking the scene of such a horrendous crime.

Feliciano couldn't resist but to take the Queen's hand to squeeze it tightly before he let go as if that would give him enough confidence, encouragement, and comfort to allow him to keep heading towards the old castle walls that once contained so much joy yet so much work.

The castle had extensive security for having lost it's king, queen, and jack.

Feliciano mantained his cool though he barely did so.

The guards seemed to believe that Kiku and Feliciano were who they were guarding and let them in under the names of 'Luciano' and 'Kuro.'

Feliciano didn't mind too much as he knew that he desperately needed in that castle, so he walked calmly beside Kiku and continued onward.

It only seemed to leave an impact on the young Italian again once he saw another Italian with extreme similarities towards himself curse him out and go ahead in an attempt to kill the more cowardly look alike.

Feliciano nearly squeaked in fear before he remembered what Antonio had gifted him for this fight though he hadn't managed to avoid being sliced through slightly with a sharp knife.

The young Jack of the previous reign stuck a needle in to the arm of the man in front of himself who swayed slightly under the pressure of whatever drug had entered his system though he didn't end up collapsing just yet until he stuck his knife hard in to Feliciano, causing him to crumble as well.

They both dropped then like rocks suddenly; one with a side bleeding terribly and the other with pale as snow skin.

Kiku couldn't even pause to help out Feliciano as he was caught up fighting a look alike of his own while fighting someone who looked far too much like Ludwig for every impact on either to not leave scars upon the Japanese Queen's heart.

He nearly crippled under the force of the hefty punch that was sent his way yet he tried regardless to jab a needle in to the German's arm while his heart exclaimed, "No, that's Ludwig!"

Kiku knew much better than to trust his heart when he believed what the eye deceived of him.

His mind knew of Ludwig's death far better than his heart did.

Queen Kiku finally managed to jab the needle against the soft purchase of skin but only due to his look alike moving to guard the current king of the kingdom.

He silently watched as his look alike crumbled under the force of the poisonous drug now under his skin.

Kiku struggled to right himself mentally, and he reached out to claim from Feliciano another needle full of the stuff though he didn't have time to treat his friend and potentially a future lover of his.

Queen Kiku moved to right himself after he was forced backwards, tripping over Feliciano, and shoved against the castle's cold and rocky edge.

He gasped as blood slowly started to spurt from his mouth yet he refused to crumble under this harsh blow and treatment that he was afflicted with.

The Japanese Queen finally ducked in a way around the man before him enough to jab the needle in to the underside of his arm.

Kiku finally collapsed from exhaustion as he saw the now dead king drop before him.

He slowly scooted over to Feliciano to begin bandaging the poor jack and to apply medicine for him.

The Japanese man only glanced away from the man that he was falling for when he heard the steady stomp of feet upon the floor laced under durable boots and managed to find several soldiers before him ready to charge in for the kill.

The guards had managed to hear the commotion and had returned.

Kiku grasped for a weapon from beside himself as he knew that he'd be doomed if he couldn't find one; he pulled up an old knife that had clearly seen it's fair share of death and blood.

The previous queen that refused to not be granted queen again stood up and raced forward, brandishing the knife like it was his favorite and well worn katana.

When he could finally rest knowing that the throne was theirs again, he collapsed by his fainted love and hoped for the best for them and the future that could promise utter darkness like it had recently.


	15. Chapter 15

Natalya stood her ground outside of those old, castle walls that reminded her of home and of big brother and their older sister, Katyusha.

She startled slightly at seeing movement: the swish of a devil's tail.

A joker must have been here was he or she supporting the new rulers of the Clubs' Kingdom?  
Jokers had always been sort of mystifying to Natalya as she'd only heard of them in legends where they did the unthinkable, picked sides, did favors, and obliterated kingdoms that they detested only to rebuild up the previously destroyed kingdom or kingdoms with new royalty.

Natalya had never known if they were real before, and now she crept forward carefully, motioning for her two future queens to stay back.

Gilbert's tail twitched in irritation as he heard the footsteps behind him and finally turned around to lock eyes with the current heir to the Clubs' Kingdom.

His eyes widened at the sight of the young heiress and the two men behind her.

"You want your throne back, don't you?" His red eyes almost seemed to taunt the young heiress as she stood there.

"Of course, I do. Why would I want someone who murdered my family to rule?" Natalya retorted sarcastically though leaned closer against the wall at the sound of footsteps, nervous over the thought of guards finding them there though the sight that she saw, startled her even further than the joker's presence.

"No one would." Answered the newcomer, who stood all in black with her brown hair tied back, "It's clear, Gilbert."

"Elizabeta?" Natalya was not one who had been distant towards their previous queen as all that were in the royal line or married into it became rather close in a sense not that Natalya ever considered her a sister or of that closeness.

"Yeah, I had to leave when I couldn't save any of you. I thought that you died." Elizabeta spoke sadly towards the future king.

"I thought that you had as well." Natalya answered her.  
Natalya had heard of her older brother's death or at least came to that knowledge recently.

"I'm sorry for not being able to save him." Elizabeta murmured; her voice was sad and conveyed so much heartbreak primarily for Natalya at the loss of her brother.

"I understand." Natalya muttered though it was only a partial truth.

"So are you going to help the two of us out in saving your kingdom?" Elizabeta asked her sister in law.

"Yeah, and I brought along the future queens." Natalya answered her.

"Future queens?" Elizabeta asked though her question became void as soon as Feliks and Toris walked closer to them.

"You are going to marry two men?" Elizabeta asked her as her mind wandered curiously over that fact.

"Yes, I am." Natalya expressed no fear or weakness in her voice at all as she stated so.

"Alright, so the ones that took over your kingdom look a lot like your older brother, Ivan, me, and Roderich. Can you still fight with us?" Elizabeta explained to her sister by marriage.

"Yes," The slightest bit of hesitance went through her voice at the thought of killing someone who looked like her older brother and long term crush, but she mentally prepared herself to do so regardless of that fear.

"It's easiest for me to sneak in due to her similarities appearance wise to me, so stay close behind." Elizabeta stressed as she went to lead them behind her and into the castle.

They followed willingly though naturally Toris and Feliks felt fear creep through their veins as they were definitely not seasoned fighters unlike the others in their group.

Natalya paused as she saw someone who looked like her brother around the corner and mentally prepared to charge after and kill Ilya for all of this though Elizabeta held her back, slightly, "Wait."  
The Belorussian female glowered at her sister in law for that, but patiently waited for when they'd enter the room with the three leaders of the kingdom: the Jack, the Queen, and the King.

Feliks's heart raced as they slowly and sneakily crept into the throne room where the three members of royalty or at least the ones that had seized control were.

Erzsebet seemed startled by the others' presences and slightly cowered back in fear before attempting to appear stronger and creep closer though before long, Elizabeta held a knife to her throat and sliced cleanly through it and watched as the queen that had taken her place fell down in a pool of her own rushing and still warm blood.

Feliks's eyes widened as he still was not quite used to that much violence let alone the way that Elizabeta accepted it as if it was just a part of routine and absolutely normal for her.

Natalya crept closer to Ilya and went to wage combat against him though he was quick and clever on his feet, sending her off balance more often than not and making it rather difficult for her to land a blow on the violent Russian.

Toris stepped forward around the same time that Gilbert did to fight the last currently not being fought or having been killed member of royalty.

Roland stepped forward and within his doing so, his strength became apparent as his slightly rough frame became the aim of both the people walking towards the Austrian.

His strangely, perverse and lighthearted smile seemed complete opposite of how one would normally seem in such a situation though when they took to fighting him, it proved even more difficult and intense than one would normally expect from his only slightly stronger than Roderich was type of appearance and his strange smile.

Gilbert moved quickly as he clawed at the Austrian with his sharp nails that only seemed as sharp as they were due to his status as a joker.

Toris moved to dig his small dagger into the back of the Austrian as quickly as possible with the least amount of shaking though he still shook much too much for a firm implant of the knife in the back as the Austrian had quickly and easily removed the knife from his back despite the thickening pools of blood, dripping down his frame.

Roland quickly turned to violently assault the two men near him which sent Toris off balance and into one of the castle walls and seemed to have only slightly harmed the quick Prussian.

Feliks was never one to stand back and watch his boyfriend get hurt, not after everything that he'd done for him all of these years and all of the love that they felt for each other.

He hurried with his knife to fight alongside Gilbert in order to murder the human being with enough gale to hurt his boyfriend.

Feliks moved quickly on his feet due mostly to adrenaline as he desired to kill this man in some awful way for his treatment of Toris though the man was much stronger than Feliks and the blond's attacks seemed like faint and distracting annoyances raised against such a powerful in comparison brute.

Gilbert moved quickly to fill in where Feliks could not be while Roland grew ever more distracted by the Polish man's attacks against his skin though slowly Roland seemed to slow even more with time as finally the many minor attacks and injuries and the harsher blows began to wear him down as he slowly stumbled and nearly fell under Gilbert and Feliks's attack.

Finally, the Joker managed to find the perfect moment to jump in and stab his dagger through the Austrian's chest and to his hands with claw like fingers to yank his heart out and squeeze the slowly stilling organ in his hands as if to serve as a final and crucial means of killing the now slumping and still falling Austrian.

During their fight against Roland, Natalya still fought Ilya and with quick and hopefully powerful movements would stab the man before her with harsher aggression than those would have ever expected of her, and no one viewed her as one that could not be aggressive and dangerously so.

Finally, Ilya slowed enough, just enough, for Natalya to stab him hard through one end of his body and out the other to finally leave the Russian dead at her hands proudly and slowly she backed away to defend her friends who had begun to fight the ever approaching guards together.

Slowly and with much pride on the future King and her companions' parts, they watched the remaining members of the guards flee for their lives, allowing Natalya's victory over retrieving her stolen kingdom back.


	16. Chapter 16

Vash was the one to carefully lead them through, and Arthur watched the other man semi-nervously as they stepped foot into the Diamonds Kingdom where those that had ceased control of it ruled.

Seeing look a likes of the royal family just around the bend did not do the flips in Arthur's stomach justice as all as he watched Francis move beside him and stare over.

Just seeing the face of someone who looked like you and your wife as well as your most loyal staff member had to have left its mark when they clearly were far more violent or evil than anyone would assume.

Voss stood in a nearly but not quite effeminate clothes though the creepy smirk residing on his face for now was enough to send a bone chilling feeling through all those that saw it.

He was the first to see them; his steps appeared nearly light though they were rushed and suddenly Arthur had a knife pressed against his throat, "Oh, so they forgot one, didn't they?" The purr that left the Swiss man's throat was enough to make Arthur nearly shudder in disgust.

The Spades' Queen spat in the face of the current residing Jack, "Such a gross, little bug, aren't you?" The tone grew colder as that knife dug deeper and deeper into his throat.

Vash was not one to sit back and neither was Francis as Vash's look a like was shoved back and a knife embedded and dug deeper into his side.

Voss grinned evilly as he lashed out at the Frenchman who'd dug a knife into his side, "Oh, the scared little King that ran now wants to fight? What fun?" His playfully, bubbly attitude contrasted sharply with the way he moved to thinly slice his own knife against Francis's throat and purred at the sight of the blood that slowly dripped down before he was flung to the side and suddenly, Vash's face was all that Voss could see as Vash stabbed him solidly and quickly through his heart and watched the color drain out of his face as he wailed with his final breath as if the fun of his 'game' had been effectively thwarted and drained out.

Voss's death rattled through the room though it didn't take long for Francis's look a like, Louis, to attack them with well trained attacks though he was a bit more sluggish than any would have guessed.

The other one to attack who was particularly ticked off was a girl named Leisl, a tomboyish woman who clearly did not like seeing her supposed brother killed.

She leaped forward, unbelievably fast as she dug her own blade through Francis's side with unparalleled movements and knocked down the previous king with a wicked smirk on her face.

"Voss tends to talk far too much, but he generally means little to no harm. Why did you kill him?" Her voice was harsh yet almost appeared light at the same time as Francis wrestled to his feet to attempt to harm and possibly kill such a woman who managed to behave in a way that left his heart chilled.

"He had no right taking my position." Vash growled as he dove to fight off Louis who fell apart fairly easily, considering their impending doom.

Vash stepped over to stand beside Arthur, who had finally caught up with Francis, and Francis who stood before such a violent and powerful woman.

Leisl smirked as she watched them stand beside her, "You couldn't even bring that pathetic excuse of a Queen with you, and it apparently takes three men to take down one woman."

Francis and Vash both quickly insisted that Lili was not a useless queen as they simultaneously dove for her; Arthur was quick to follow their movements though Leisl was somehow just as fast if not quicker as she leaned forward to dive farther away from them with an acrobatic flexibility that could astound others if this wasn't such a dire situation.

They both dove for her with eager strides though Arthur was the first to land a blow on her though it was just above her hip and only dripped a small portion of her blood and definitely not enough to kill her.

Leisl had only smirked at the wound as if the fact that it took so much effort to even potentially harm her.

She though was quick to leave a much larger mark in Arthur's side and to mark up Francis's neck with her blade in one fluid movement, dropping the two like stones though the two men were quick to recover despite the steady blood flow that dripped down far too easily.

Vash was the next to land a blow that due to her quick maneuvering only hit her shoulder though he'd hit it well enough to gush more blood down through it than her other wound did.

Francis reached out to attempt to leave a similar mark along her neck though it didn't hurt her half as bad as the mark on Francis's neck hurt him.

Arthur pushed through, tired of her games, far more tired of them than the ones her 'brother' had played on them all earlier.

His knife dug far into her stomach and was the first wound that sent her toppling over before Francis crawled on top of his wife's look a like to jab his knife far into her chest despite how chilling it felt to kill a woman who looked so much like his own wife.

It left a hollow ache in his own chest as he stared at her as the light left her green eyes.


End file.
